In 1990, when Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes was a fresh-faced, fire-breathing virtuoso of 20, he signed with the Virgin Classics label and made a terrific series of recordings for them that captured his youthful brilliance in full flight. The first of those recordings was this coupling of Grieg's A minor Concerto and Liszt's A major Concerto with Grieg's Lyric Pieces, Op. 65, added as an encore and re-released in 2007, it is still stupendous. Andsnes' dazzling tone, flashing attack, and coruscating technique is ...
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In 1990, when Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes was a fresh-faced, fire-breathing virtuoso of 20, he signed with the Virgin Classics label and made a terrific series of recordings for them that captured his youthful brilliance in full flight. The first of those recordings was this coupling of Grieg's A minor Concerto and Liszt's A major Concerto with Grieg's Lyric Pieces, Op. 65, added as an encore and re-released in 2007, it is still stupendous. Andsnes' dazzling tone, flashing attack, and coruscating technique is tremendously impressive, yet the ultimate effect of his performances is not that of a hot-shot barn-storming, but of a young poet striving to achieve the impossible -- and often succeeding. His cadenza in the opening Allegro of the Grieg, for example, is breathtaking in its effortless audacity and his double-octaves in the closing Allegro of Liszt's concerto are awe-inspiring in their reckless charisma. But there is a deep musicality to his playing, a way of shading a slur, molding a...
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